Sandra Ávila Beltrán

ABOUT SANDRA ÁVILA BELTRáN

Drug cartel leader nicknamed "The Queen of the Pacific" who is considered a pivotal link between the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and the Norte del Valle cartel in Colombia. Though she was charged with a wide variety of cocaine-related crimes, she was ultimately convicted of money laundering.

She lived in a variety of Mexican cities, including Guadalajara, Jalisco and Hermosillo, Sonora.

A book based on a series of prison interviews she gave to Mexican journalist Julio Scherer, The Queen of the Pacific: Time to Talk, was published in 2008.

She grew up in a family of known drug kingpins, including her father, Alfonso Ávila Quintero. Both of her first two husbands were ex-police commanders who became drug traffickers.

Like Rafael Caro Quintero , she is a widely-known within the Mexican drug trade.